said and for feare as Aristotle saith lest prouoking hir desires too wantonlie the pleasure thereof make hir to exceed the bounds of reason and the care of health for too hot and too frequent a pleasure altereth the seed and hindereth generation On the other side to the end she be not ouer-languishing barraine and subiect to other diseases he must offer himselfe vnto hir though seldome Solon saith thrise in a month but there can no certaine law or rule be giuen heereof Plutar. in Solone The doctrine of houshould husbandrie doth willinglie follow and is annexed vnto mariage CHAP. XIII Houshold Husbandrie 1 HOushold husbandrie is an excellent iust and profitable occupation It is a happie thing saith Plato for a man to goe through his priuat affaires without iniustice There is nothing more beautifull than a houshold well and peaceably gouerned 2 It is a profession which is not difficult for he that is capable of any thing else is not vncapable of this but yet it is carefull and painefull and troublesome by reason of the multitude of affaires which though they be small and of no great importance yet forasmuch as they are common frequent and neuer at an end they do much annoy and wearie a man Domesticall thornes prick because they are ordinarie but if they come from the principall persons of the familie they gaule and exulcerate and grow remedilesse 3 It is a great happines and a fit meane to liue at ease to haue one whom a man may trust and vpon whom he may repose himselfe which that he may the better do he must choose one that is true and loyall and afterwards bind him to do well by that trust and confidence he putteth in him habita fides ipsam obligat fidem multi fallere docuerunt dum timent falli alijs ius peccandi suspicando dederunt 4 The principall precepts and counsels that belong to frugalitie or good husbandrie are these 1. To buy and sell all things at the best times and seasons that is when they are best and best cheape 2. To take good heed lest the goods in the house bee spoiled or miscarrie bee either lost or caried away This doth especiallie belong to the woman to whom Aristotle giues this authoritie and care 3. To prouide first and principallie for these three necessitie cleanlinesse order and againe if there be meanes some aduise to prouide for these three too but the wiser sort wish no great paines to bee taken therein non ampliter sed munditer conuinium plus salis quà m sumptus abundance pompe and preparation exquisite and rich fashion The contrary is many times practised in good housen where you shall haue beds garnished with silke embrodered with gold and but one simple couerlid in winter which were a commoditie farre more necessarie And so of the rest 4. To rule and moderate his charge which is done by taking away superfluities yet prouiding for necessitie and that which is fit and beseeming A ducket in a mans purse will doe a man more honour and honestie than tenne prodigallie spent saith one Againe but this requires industrie and good sufficiencie to make a great shew with a little charge and aboue all not to suffer the expence to grow aboue the receit and the income 5. To haue a care and an eie ouer all the vigilancie and presence of the master saith the prouerbe fatteth the horse and the land And in any case the master and mistrisse must take a care to conceale their ignorance and insufficiencie in the affaires of the house and much more their carelesnesse making a shew as if they attended and thought of nothing else For if officers and seruants haue an opinion that their masters looke not vnto them they may chance to make his haire grow through his hood CHAP. XIIII The duty of Parents and children THe dutie of parents and children is reciprocall and reciprocallie naturall if that of children be more strait that of parents is more ancient parents being the first authours and cause and more important to a common-weale for to people a state and to furnish it with honestmen and good citizens the culture and good nourishment of youth is necessarie which is the seed of a common-wealth And there comes not so much euill to a weale-publike by the ingratitude of children towards their parents as by the carelesnesse of parents in the instruction of their children and therefore with great reason in Lacedemon and other good politike states there was a punishment and a penaltie laid vpon the parents when the children were ill conditioned And Plato was wont to say that he knew not in what a man should bee more carefull and diligent than to make a good sonne And Crates cried out in choler To what end doe men take so much care in heaping vp goods and so little care of those to whom they shall leaue them It is as much as if a man should take care of his shoo and not of his foot What should hee do with riches that is not wise and knowes not how to vse them It is like a rich and beautifull saddle vpon a iades backe Parents then are doubly obliged to this duty both because they are their children and because they are the tender plants and hope of the Common-weale This is to till his owne land together with that of the weale-publicke Now this office or dutie hath foure successiue parts according to those foure goods or benefits that a child ought to receiue 2 The diuision of the office of parents successiuely from his parents life nourishment instruction communication The first regardeth the time when the infant is in the wombe vntill his comming into the world inclusiuelie the second the time of his infancie in his cradle vntill hee know how to goe and to speake the third all his youth this part must be handled more at large and more seriously the fourth concerneth their affection communication and cariage towards their children now come to mans estate touching their goods thoughts designments The first which regardeth the generation and fruit in the wombe is not accounted of and obserued with such diligence 3 The first part the office of parents as it ought although it haue as much part in the good or euill of a child as well of their bodies as their soules as their education and instruction after they are borne and come to some growth This is that that giueth the subsistence the temper and temperature the nature the other is artificiall and acquired and if there be a fault committed in this first part the second and third can hardly repaire it no more than a fault in the first concoction of the stomacke cannot bee mended in the second nor third We men go vnaduisedlie and headlong to this copulation only prouoked thereunto by pleasure and a desire to disburthen our selues of that which tickleth and presseth vs thereunto if a conception happen thereby it is
still forward to those that are before him and it is a greater griefe vnto him to suffer one to go beyond him than it is pleasure vnto him to leaue a thousand behind him Habet hoc vitium omnis ambitio non respicit It is twofolde Seneca the one of glory and honor the other of greatnesse and command that is profitable to the world and in some sense permitted as shall be proued this pernitious The seed and root of ambition is naturall in vs. There is a 2 It is natural prouerbe that saith That Nature is content with a little and another quite contrarie That Nature is neuer satisfied neuer content but it still desireth hath a will to mount higher and to enrich it selfe and it goeth not a slow pace neither but with a loose bridle it runneth headlong to greatnesse and glorie Natura nostra imperij est auida ad implendum cupiditatem praeceps And with such force and violence doe some men runne that they breake their owne necks as many great men haue done euen at the dawning as it were and vpon the point of entrance and full fruition of that greatnesse which hath cost them so deare It is a naturall and very powerfull passion and in the end is the last that leaueth vs and therefore one calleth it The shirt of the soule because it is the last vice it putteth off Etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae nouissima Tacitus exuitur Ambition as it is the strongest and most powerfull passion that is so is it the most noble and haughty the force and puissance The force and primacy thereof thereof is shewed in that it mastereth and surmounteth all other things euen the strongest of the world yea all other passions and affections euen loue it selfe which seemeth neuerthelesse to contend with it for the Primacy As we may see in all the great men of the world Alexander Scipio Pompey and many other who haue couragiously refused to touch the most beautifull damosels that were in their power burning neuerthelesse with ambition yea that victory they had ouer loue serued their ambition especially in Caesar For neuer was there a man more giuen to amorous delights euen of all sexes and all sorts of people witnesse so many exploits both at Rome and in strange countries nor more carefull and curious in adorning his person yet ambition did alwaies so carry him that for his amorous pleasures hee neuer lost an houre of time which he might employ to the inlargement of his greatnesse for ambition had the soueraigne place in him and did fully possesse him We see on the other side that in Marcus Antonius and others the force of loue hath made them to forget the care and conduct of their affaires But yet both of them being weighed in equall ballance ambition carieth away the price They that hold that loue is the stronger say that both the soule and the body the whole man is possessed by it yea that health it selfe dependeth thereupon But contrariwise it seemeth that ambition is the stronger because it is altogether spirituall And in as much as loue possesseth the body it is therefore the more weake because it is subiect to saciety and therefore capable of remedies both corporall naturall and strange as experience sheweth of many who by diuers meanes haue alaied yea quite extinguished the force and fury of this passion but ambition is not capable of saciety yea it is sharpned by the fruition of that it desireth and there is no way to extinguish it being altogether in the soule it selfe and in the reason It doth likewise vanquish loue and robbeth it not onlie of it health and tranquillity for glory tranquillity are things 4 The care of life that cannot lodge together but also of it owne proper life as Agrippina the mother of Nero doth plainly proue who desiring and consulting with others to make hir sonne Emperour and vnderstanding that it could not bee done but with the losse of her owne life she answered as if ambition it selfe had spoken it Occidar modò imperet Thirdly Ambition enforceth all the lawes and conscience it selfe the learned haue said of ambition that it is the part 5 The lawes of euery honest man alwaies to obey the lawes except it bee in a case of soueraignty for a kingdome which only deserueth a dispensation being so dainty a morsell that it cannot but breake a mans fast Si violandum est ius regnandi caussa violandum est in caeteris pietatem colas It likewise trampleth vnder foote and contemneth the reuerence 6 Religion respect of religion witnesse Ieroboam Mahumet who neuer tooke thought for religion but tolerated all religions so he might raigne and all those arch-hereticks who haue liked better to be chiefe leaders in errours and lies with a thousand disorders than to be disciples of the trueth and therfore saith the Apostle that they that suffer themselues to 1. Tim. 6. bee puffed vp with this passion and affection make shipwracke and wander from the faith piercing themselues thorow with many sorowes To be short it offereth violence euen to the lawes of Nature it selfe This hath beene the cause of so many murders 7 It enforceth Nature of parents infants brothers witnesse Absalon Abimelech Athalias Romulus Sei King of the Persians who killed both his father and brother Soliman the Great Turke his two brothers So that nothing is able to resist the force of ambition it beats all to the ground so high and haughtie is it It lodgeth only in great mindes euen in the Angels themselues Ambition is not the vice or passion of base companions 8 It is a lofty passion nor of common or small attempts and dayly enterprises Renowne and glorie doth not prostitute it selfe to so base a price it pursueth not those things that are simply and solely good and profitable but those that are rare high difficult strange and vnusuall That great thirst after honour and reputation that casts downe a man and makes him a begger and to ducke and stoop to all sorts of people by all means yea the most abiect at what base price soeuer is vile and dishonourable it is a shame and dishonour so to be honoured A man must not be greedie of greater glorie than he is capable of and to swell and to be puffed vp for euery good and profitable action is to shew his taile while hee lifts vp his head Ambition hath many and diuers waies and is practised by diuers meanes there is one way strait and open such as 9 It hath diuers waies Alexander Caesar Themistocles tooke there is another oblique and hidden which many philosophers and professors of pietie haue taken who goe forwards by going backward goe before others by going behind them not vnlike to wierdrawers who draw and goe backward they would faine be glorious by contemning glory And to say the trueth there is greater glory in
of the wiues are kept apart and carrie in some places the titles of lawfull wiues in others of concubines and their children are onely pensioners The vse of repudiation in like sort is different for with 12 Repudiation diuers some as the Hebrewes Greeks Armenians the cause of the separation is not expressed and it is not permitted to retake the wife once repudiated but yet lawfull to marry another But by the law of Mahumet the separation is made by the Iudge with knowledge taken of the cause except it be by mutuall consent which must be adulterie sterilitie incompatibilitie of humours an enterprise on his or hir part against the life of each other things directly and especiallie contrarie to the state and institution of mariage and it is lawfull to retake one another as often as they shall thinke good The former seemeth to be the better because it bridleth proud women and ouer-sharp and bitter husbands The second which is to expresse the cause dishonoureth the parties discouereth many things which should be hid And if it fall out that the cause be not sufficientlie verified and that they must continue together poysonings and murthers doe commonly ensue many times vnknowne vnto men as it was discouered at Rome before the vse of repudiation where a woman being apprehended for poysoning of her husband accused others and they others too to the number of threescore and ten which were all executed for the same offence But the worst law of all others hath beene that the adulterer escapeth almost euery where without punishment of death and all that is laid vpoÌ„ him is diuorce separation of companie brought in by Iustinian a man whollie possessed by his wife who caused whatsoeuer lawes to passe that might make for the aduantage of women From hence doth arise a danger of perpetuall adulterie desire of the death of the one partie the offender is not punished the innocent iniured remaineth without amends The dutie of maried folke See Lib. 3. Cap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are many sorts and degrees of authoritie and humane power Publicke and Priuate but there is none 1 Fatherly power more naturall nor greater than that of the father ouer his children I say father because the mother who is subiect vnto hir husband cannot properly haue hir children in hir power and subiection but it hath not been alwayes and in all places alike In former times almost euery where it was absolute and vniuersall ouer the life and death the libertie the goods the honor the actions and cariages of their children as to plead to marie to get goods as namely with the Romans by the expresse law of Romulus parentum in liberos omne ius esto relegendi vendendi occidendi except only children vnder Dion Halic li 2. antiq Rom l. in â—uis ff de lib. post Aul. Gell. lib. 20. Lib. 8. Eth. cap. 20. Lib 6. Bel. Gal. Prosper Aquitan in Epist Sigism the age of three yeares who as yet could not offend either in word or deede which law was afterwards renued by the law of the twelue tables by which the father was allowed to sell his children to the third time with the Persians according to Aristotle the ancient French as Caesar and Prosper affirme with the Muscouits and Tartars who might sell their children to the fourth time And it should seeme by that fact of Abraham going about to kill his sonne that this power was likewise vnder the law of nature for if it had been against his dutie and without the power of the father he had neuer consented thereunto neither had hee euer thought that it was God that commanded him to do it if it had beene against nature And therefore we see that Isaac made no resistance nor alledged his innocencie knowing that it was in the power of his father which derogateth not in any sort from the greatnesse of the faith of Abraham because he would not sacrifice his sonne by vertue of his right or power nor for any demerit of Isaac but only to obey the commandement of God So likewise it was in force by the law of Moyses though somewhat Deut. 21. moderated So that we see what this power hath been in ancient times in the greatest part of the world and which endured vnto the time of the Romane Emperours With the Greeks it was not so great and absolute nor with the Egyptians neuerthelesse if it fell out that the father had killed his sonnes wrongfully and without cause he had no other punishment but to be shut vp three daies together with the dead bodie Now the reasons and fruits of so great and absolute a power 2 The reasons and fruits thereof of fathers ouer their children necessarie for the culture of good maners the chasing away of vice and the publike good were first to holde the children in awe and dutie and secondly because there are many great faults in children that would escape vnpunished to the great preiudice of the weale publike if the knowledge and punishment of them were but in the hand of publike authoritie whether it be because they are domesticall and secret or because there is no man that will prosecute against them for the parents who know them and are interessed in them will not discredit them besides that there are many vices and insolencies that are neuer punished by iustice Adde heereunto that there are many things to be tried and many differences betwixt parents and children brothers and sisters touching their goods or other matters which are not fit to be published which are extinct and buried by this fatherly authoritie And the law did alwayes suppose that the father would neuer abuse this authoritie because of that great loue which he naturally carrieth to his children incompatible with crueltie which is the cause that in stead of punishing them with rigour they rather become intercessours for them when they are in danger of the law and there can be no greater torment to them than to see their children in paine And it falleth out very seldome or neuer that this power is put in practise without very great occasion so that it was rather a scarcrow to children and very profitable than a rigour in good earnest Now this fatherly power as ouer-sharpe and dangerous is almost of it selfe lost and abolished for it hath rather hapned 3 The declination by a kinde of discontinuance than any expresse law and it beganne to decline at the comming of the Romane Emperours for from the time of Augustus or shortly after it was no more in force whereby children became so desperate and insolent against their parents that Seneca speaking to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. sayd That hee had seene more paricides punished in fiue yeeres past than had beene in seuen hundred yeeres before that is to say since the foundation of Rome In former times if it fell out that the father killed his
is honor enough but little rest and ioy or rather none at all It is a publicke and honorable seruitude a noble miserie a rich captiuitie Aureae fulgidae compides clara miseria witnesse that which Augustus Marcus Aurelius Pertinax Diocletian haue said and done and the end that almost all the first twelue Cesars made and many others after them But because few there are that beleeue this but suffer themselues to be deceiued by the beautifull shew I will more particularly quote the inconueniences and miseries that accompanie great Princes First the great difficultie to play their part and to quit themselues of their charge for can it be but a great burthen 8 1 In their charge to gouerne so many people since in the ruling of himselfe there are so many difficulties It is an easier matter and more pleasant to follow than to guide to trauell in a way that is alreadie traced than to finde the way to obey than to command to answere for himselfe only than for others too vt satius multo iam sit parere quietum quà m regere imperio res velle Adde heereunto that it is required that he that commandeth must be a better man than he that is commanded so said Cyrus a great Commander How difficult a thing this is we may see by the paucitie of those that are such as they ought to be Vespasian saith Tacitus was the only Prince that in goodnes excelled his predecessors and another sticks not to say that all the good Princes may be grauen in a ring Secondly in their delights and pleasures wherein it is thought they haue a greater part than other men But they 9 2 In the pleasures and actions of their life are doubtlesse of a worse condition than the pleasures of priuate men for besides that the lustre of their greatnes makes them vnfit to take ioy in their pleasures by reason that they are too cleare and apparent and made as a butt and subiect to censure they are likewise crost and peered into euen to their very thoughts which men take vpon them to diuine and iudge of Againe the great ease and facilitie that they haue to do what pleaseth them because all men applie themselues vnto them takes away the taste sowreth that sweet which should be in their pleasures which delight no man but those that taste them with some scarcitie and difficultie He that giues no time to be thirstie knowes not what a pleasure it is to haue drinke Sacietie is noysome and goes against the stomacke Pinguis amor nimiumque potens in taedia nobis Vertitur stomacho dulcis vt esca nocet There is nothing more tedious and loathsome than abundance yea they are depriued of all true and liuely action which can not be without some difficultie and resistance It is not going liuing acting in them but sleeping and an insensible sliding away The third inconuenience that followeth Princes is in their 10 3 In their marriages marriages The marriages of the vulgar sort are more free and voluntarie made with more affection libertie and contentment One reason heereof may be that the common sort of men finde more of their degree to chuse whereas Kings and Princes who are not of the rout as we know haue no plentifull choice But the other reason is better which is that the common sort in their marriages looke but into their owne affaires and how they may accommodate it best vnto themselues but the marriages of Princes are many times inforced for publike necessity they are great parts of the State and instruments seruing for the generall good and quiet of the world Great personages and Souereignes marrie not for themselues but for the good of the State whereof they must be more amourous and iealous than of their wiues and children for which cause they many times hearken vnto marriages where there is neither loue nor delight and matches are made betweene persons who neither know nor haue seene one another much lesse affect yea such a great man takes such a great ladie whom if he were not so great he would not take but this is to serue the weale-publike to assure the States and to settle peace amongst their people The fourth is That they haue no true part in the attempts that men make one against the other in emulation of honour 11 4 Attempte of honour and valour in the exercises of the minde and of the bodie which is one of the most delightfull things in the commerce and conuersation of men The reason heereof is because all the world giues place vnto them all men spare them and loue rather to hide their owne valour to betray their owne glorie than to hurt or hinder that of their Souereigne especially where they know he affects the victorie This to say the trueth is by force of respect to handle men disdainfully and iniuriously and therefore one said that the children of Princes learned nothing by order and rule but to manage a horse because in all other exercises euery one bowes vnto them and giues them the prise but the horse who is neither flatterer nor Courtier casts as well the Prince to the ground as the Esquire Many great personages haue refused the praises and approbations offered them saying I would accept and esteeme of them and reioyce in them if they came from free men that durst say the contrarie and tax me if there were cause The fift is that they are depriued of the libertie to trauell in the world being as it were emprisoned within their owne 12 5 Libertie of trauell countries yea within their owne palaces being alwaies enclosed with people suters gazers and lookers on and that wheresoeuer they be and in all actions whatsoeuer prying euen through the holes of their chaire whereupon Alphonsus the King said that in this respect the estate of an asse was better than the condition of a King The sixt miserie is that they are depriued of all amitie and mutuall societie which is the sweetest and perfectest fruit of 13 6 Mutuall and hartie amitie humane life and cannot be but betwixt equals or those betwixt whom the difference is but small This great disparitie puts them without the commerce and societie of men all humble seruices and base offices are done vnto them by those that cannot refuse them and proceed not from loue but from subiection or to increase their owne greatnes or of custome and countenance which is plaine because wicked Kings are as well serued and reuerenced as the good they that are hated as they that are beloued there is no difference the selfe-same apparell the selfe-same ceremonie Wherevpon Iulian the Emperour answered his Courtiers that commended him for his iustice Perhaps I should be proud of these praises if they were spoken by such as durst to accuse me and to dispraise my actions when they shall deserue it The seuenth misery worse perhaps than all the rest and
from a friendlie hand from those whom a man is inclined to loue without this occasion and contrarily it is a griefe to be obliged vnto him whom a man likes not and to whom he would not willingly be indebted Such benefits also are welcome that come from the hand of him that is any way bound to the receiuer for heere is a kind of iustice and they bind lesse Those good deeds that are done in necessities and great extremities carie with them a greater force they make a man forget all iniuries and offences past if there were any and binde more strongly as contrarilie the deniall in such a case is very iniurious and makes a man forget all benefits past Such benefits likewise as may be requited with the like are more gladly receiued than their contraries which ingender a kind of hate for he that findeth himselfe wholly bound without any power or possibility of repaiment as often as he seeth his benefactour hee thinkes hee sees a testimony of his inabilitie or ingratitude and it is irksome to his heart There are some benefits the more honest and gratious they are the more burthensome are they to the receiuer if he be a man of credit as they that tie the conscience and the will for they lock faster keepe a man in his right memorie and some feare of forgetfulnesse and failing his promise A man is a safer prisoner vnder his word than vnder locke and keie It is better to be tied by ciuill and publicke bands than by the law of honestie and conscience two notaries are better than one I trust your word and your faith and conscience heere is more honour done to the receiuer but yet constraint fastneth solliciteth and presseth much more and heere is more safety to the lender and a man carrieth himselfe more carelesly because he doubteth not but that the law and those outward ties will awaken him when the time shall serue Where there is constraint the will is more loose where there is lesse constraint the will hath lesse libertie quod me ius coget vix a voluntate impetrem From a benefit proceeds an obligation and from it a benefit 16 Obligation the mother and daughter of a benefit or good turne and so it is both the child and the father the effect and the cause and there is a twofold obligation actiue and passiue Parents princes and superiours by the dutie of their charge are bound to do good vnto those that are committed and commended vnto them either by law or by nature and generally all men that haue means are bound to releeue those that are in want or anie affliction whatsoeuer by the command of nature Behold heere the first obligation afterwards from benefits or good turnes whether they be due and sprining from this first obligation or free and pure merits ariseth the second obligation and discharge whereby the receiuers are bound to an acknowledgement and thankfull requitall All this is signified by Hesiodus who hath made the Graces three in number holding each other by the hands The first obligation is discharged by the good offices of euerie one that is in anie charge which shall presentlie be discoursed 17 The first obligation and mother of in the second part which concerneth particular duties but yet this obligation is strengthened and weakned and lesned accidentallie by the conditions and actions of those that are the receiuers For their offences ingratitudes and vnworthinesse doe in a maner discharge those that are bound to haue care of them and a man may almost say as much of their naturall defects too A man may iustly with lesse affection loue that child that kinsman that subiect that is not onelie wicked and vnworthie but foule misshapen crooked vnfortunate ill borne God himselfe hath abated him much from their naturall price and estimation but yet a man must in this abatement of affection keepe a iustice and a moderation for this concerneth not the helpes and succors of necessitie and those offices that are due by publike reason but onlie that attention and affection which is in the inward obligation The second obligation which ariseth from benefits is that 18 The second obligation which is thankfulnes which we are to handle concerning which we must at this time set down some rules 1. the law of dutifull acknowledgement thankfulnesse is naturall witnesse beasts themselues not only priuat and domesticall but cruell and sauage among whom there are many excellent examples of this acknowledgement as of the Lion towards the Roman slaue Officia etiam ferae sentiunt Secondly it is a certaine act of vertue and a testimony of a good mind and therefore it is more to be esteemed than bountie or benefit which many times proceeds from abundance from power loue of a mans proper interest and very seldome from pure vertue whereas thankfulnesse springeth alwaies from a good heart and therefore howsoeuer the benefit may be more to be desired yet kinde acknowledgement is farre more commendable Thirdly it is an easie thing yea a pleasant and that is in the power of euery man There is nothing more easie than to doe according to nature nothing more pleasing than to be free from bands and to be at liberty By that which hath beene spoken it is easie to see how base and vilanous a vice forgetfulnesse and ingratitude is 19 Of ingratitude how vnpleasing and odious vnto all men Dixeris maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris It is against nature and therefore Plato speaking of his disciple Aristotle calleth him an vngratefull mule It is likewise without all excuse and cannot come but from a wicked nature graue vitium intolerabile quod dissociat homines Reuenge which followeth an iniury Senec. as ingratitude a good turne is much more strong and pressing for an iniurie inforceth more than a benefit altius iniuriae quà m merita descendunt it is a very violent passion but yet nothing so base so deformed a vice as ingratitude It is like those euils that a man hath that are not dangerous but yet are more grieuous and painful than they that are mortall In reuenge there is some shew of iustice and a man hides not himselfe to worke his will therein but in ingratitude there is nothing but base dishonesty and shame Thankefulnesse or acknowledgement that it may be such 20 Rules of thankfulnes as it should bee must haue these conditions First hee must gratiously receiue a benefit with an amiable and cheerefull visage and speech qui gratè beneficium accepit primam eius pensionem soluit Secondly he must neuer forget it Ingratissimus Senec. omnium qui oblitus nusquam enim gratus fieri potest cut totum beneficium elapsum est The third office is to publish it ingenui Idem pudoris est fateri per quos profecerimus haec quasi merces authoris As a man hath found the heart and the hand of another
by chance for no man goeth to it warily and with such deliberation and disposition of body as hee ought and nature doth require Since then men are made at aduenture and by chance it is no maruell if they seldome fall out to bee beautifull good sound wise and well composed Behold then briefly according to Philosophy the particular aduisements touching this first point that is to say the begetting of male children sound wise and iudicious for that which serueth for the one of these qualities serues for the other 1. A man must not couple himselfe with a woman that is of a vile base and dissolute condition or of a naughty and vitious composition of body 2. He must abstaine from this action and copulation seuen or eight daies 3. During which time hee is to nourish himselfe with wholsome victuals more hot and drie than otherwise and such as may concoct well in the stomacke 4. He must vse a more than moderate exercise All this tendeth to this end and purpose that the seed may be wel concocted and seasoned hot and drie fit and proper for a masculine sound and wise temperature Vagabounds idle and lazie people great drinkers who haue commonly an ill concoction euer beget effeminate idle and dissolute children as Hippocrates recounteth of the Scythians Againe a man must applie himselfe to this encounter after one maner a long time after his repast that is to say his bellie being empty and he fasting for a full panch performes nothing good either for the mind or for the body and therefore Diogenes reproched a licentious yong man for that his father had begotten him being drunke And the law of the Carthaginians is commended by Plato which enioined a man to abstaine from L. 2. de leg wine that day that he lay with his wife 6. And not neere the monthly tearmes of a woman but six or seuen daies before or as much after them 7. And vpon the point of conception and retention of the seed the woman turning and gathering hirselfe together vpon the right side let hir so rest for a time 8. This direction touching the viands and exercise must be continued during the time of hir burthen To come to the second point of this office after the birth of the infant these foure points are to be obserued 1. The infant must be washed in warme water somewhat brinish to make The second part of the office of parents Ezech. 16. the members supple and firme to cleanse and drie the flesh the braine to strengthen the sinewes a very good custome in the Easterne parts among the Iewes 2. The nurse if she be to be chosen let hir be young of a temperature or complexion the least cold and moist that may be brought vp in labour hard lodging slender diet hardned against cold and heate I say if she be to be chosen because according to reason and the opinion of the wisest it should be the mother and therefore they crie out against hir when she refuseth this charge being inuited and as it were bound thereunto by nature who to that end hath giuen hir milke and dugs by the example of beasts and that loue and iealousie that she ought to haue of hir little ones who receiue a very great hurt by the change of their aliment now accustomed in a stranger and perhaps a bad one too of a constitution quite contrarie to the former whereby they are not to be accounted mothers but by halfes Quod est hoc contra naturam imperfectum ac dimidiatum matris genus peperisse staim ab se abiecisse aluisse in vtero Aul. Gell. L. 12. c. 1. sanguine suo nescio quid quod non videret non alere autem nunc suo lacte quod videat iam viuentem iam hominem iam matris officia implorantem 3. The nourishment besides the dugge should be goates milke or rather creame the most subtile and aerie part of the milke sod with honie and a little salt These are things very fit for the bodie and the mind by the aduice of all the wise and great Physitians Greeks and Hebrews Galen multis locis Homer 10. Iliad I say 7. Butyrum mel comedet vt sciat reprobare malum eligere bonum The qualitie of milke or creame is very temperate and full of good nourishment the drinesse of the honie and salt consumeth the too great humiditie of the braine and disposeth it vnto wisdome 4. The infant must by little and little be accustomed and hardned to the aire to heate and cold and we are not to be fearefull thereof for in the Northerne parts of the world they wash their children so soone as they come out of the womb of their mothers in cold water and are neuer the worse The two first parts of the office of parents we haue soone dispatched whereby it appeareth that they are not true fathers that haue not that care affection and diligence in these matters that is fit for they are the cause and occasion either by carelesnesse or otherwise of the death and vntimely birth of their children and when they are borne they care not for them but expose them to their own fortunes for which cause they are depriued by law of that fatherlie power ouer them that is due vnto them and the children to the shame of their parents are made slaues by those that haue nourished them and brought them vp who are farre from taking care to preserue them from fire and water and all other crosses and afflictions that may light vpon them The third part which concerneth the instruction of children 6 The third part of the office of parents we are to handle more seriouslie So soone as this infant is able to goe and to speake and shall begin to employ his mind and his bodie and that the faculties thereof shall be awakened and shew themselues the memorie imagination reason which begin at the fourth or fift yeare there must be An instruction very important a great care and diligence vsed in the well forming thereof for this first tincture and liquor wherewith the mind must be seasoned hath a very great power It cannot be expressed how much this first impression and formation of youth preuaileth euen to the conquering of nature it selfe Nourture saith one excelleth nature Lycurgus made it plaine to all the world by two little dogs of one litter but diuerslie brought vp to whom presenting before them in an open place a pot of pottage and a hare that which was brought vp tenderlie in the house fell to the pottage the other that had beene euer trained vp in hunting forsooke the pottage andranne after the hare The force of this instruction proceeds from this that it entreth easily and departeth with difficultie for being the first that entreth it taketh such place and winneth such Quint Senec. credit as a man will there being no other precedent matter to contest with it
freedome and libertie to all those that were of their religion in such sort that about the twelue hundred yeare there were almost no slaues in the world but where these two religions had no authoritie But as the number of slaues diminished the number of beggers and vagabonds increased for so many slaues being 7 The increase of poore people and vagabonds set at libertie come from the houses and subiection of their Lords not hauing wherewithall to liue and perhaps hauing children too filled the world with poore people This pouertie made them returne to seruitude and to become 8 Returne to seruitude voluntarie slaues paying changing selling their libertie to the end they might haue their maintenance and life assured and be quit of the burthen of their children Besides this cause and this voluntarie seruitude the world is returned to the vse of slaues because the Christians and Turks alwaies mainteining warres one against the other as likewise against the Gentiles both orientall and occidentall although by the example of the Iewes they haue no slaues of their owne nation yet they haue of others whom though they turne to their religion they hold slaues by force The power and authoritie of masters ouer their seruants is not very great nor imperious and in no sort can be preiudiciall to the libertie of seruants only they may chastise and correct them with discretion and moderation This power is much lesse ouer those that are mercenarie ouer whom they haue neither power nor correction The dutie of Masters and Seruants See lib. 3. cap. 15. CHAP. XLIX Of the State Soueraigntie Soueraignes HAuing spoken of priuate power we come to the publicke 1 The description and necessitie of the state that of the state The state that is to say Rule dominion or a certaine order in commanding and obeying is the prop the cement and the soule of humane things It is the bond of societie which cannot otherwise subsist It is the vitall spirit whereby so many millions of men doe breath and the whole nature of things Now notwithstanding it be the piller and prop of all yet it is a thing not so sure very difficult subiect to changes arduuin 2 The nature of the state Tacit. subiectum fortunae cuncta regendi onus which declineth and sometimes falleth by hidden and vnknowne causes and that altogether at an instant from the highest step to the lowest and not by degrees as it vseth to be long arising It is likewise exposed to the hatred both of great and small wherby it is gauled subiect to ambushments vnderminings and dangers which hapneth likewise many times by the corrupt and wicked manners of the soueraignes and the nature of the soueraigntie which we are about to describe Soueraigntie is a perpetuall and absolute power without constraint either of time or condition It consisteth in a power 3 The description of soueraigntie to giue lawes to all in generall and to euery one in particular without the consent of any other or the gift of any person And as another saith to derogate from the common law Soueraigntie is so called and absolute because it is not subiect to any humane lawes no not his owne For it is against nature to giue lawes vnto all and to command himselfe in a thing that dependeth vpon his will Nulla obligatio consistere potest quae a voluntate promittent is statum capit nor of another whether liuing or of his predecessors or the countrie Soueraigne power is compared to fire to the sea to a wilde beast it is a hard matter to tame it to handle it it will not be crost nor offended but being is very dangerous potestas res est quae moneri docerique non vult castigationem aegrè ferat The marks and properties thereof are to iudge the last appeales to ordaine lawes in time of peace and warre to create 4 The properties and appoint magistrates and officers to giue graces and dispensations against the law to impose tributes to appoint money to receiue homages ambassages oathes But all this is comprehended vnder the absolute power to giue and make lawes according to their pleasure Other marks there are of lesse weight as the law of the sea and shipwracke confiscation for treason power to change the tongue title of Maiestie Greatnes and Soueraigntie is so much desired of all because all the good that is in it appeareth outwardly and all the ill is altogether inward As also because to commaund others is a thing as beautifull and diuine as great and difficult and for this cause they are esteemed and reuerenced for more than men Which beliefe in the people and credit of theirs is very necessarie and commodious to extort from the people due respect and obedience the nource of peace and quietnes But in the end they prooue to be men cast in the same mould that other men are and many times worse borne and worse qualified in nature than many of the common sort of people It seemeth that their actions because they are weightie and important doe proceed from weightie and important causes but they are nothing and of the same condition that other mens are The same occasion that breeds a brawle betwixt vs and our neighbour is ground enough of a warre betwixt Princes and that offence for which a Lackey deserues a whipping lighting vpon a King is the ruine of a whole prouince They will as lightly as we and we as they but they can do more than we the selfe-same appetites moue a flie and an elephant Finally besides these passions defects and naturall conditions which they haue common with the meanest of those that doe adore them they haue likewise vices and discommodities which their greatnes and soueraigntie beares them out in peculiar vnto themselues The ordinarie maners of great personages are vntamed 6 The maners of Soueraignes pride durus est veri insolens ad recta flecti regius non vult tumor violence too licentious id esse regni maximum pignus putant si quicquid alijs non licet solis licet quod non potest vult posse qui nimium potest Their mott that best pleaseth them is Senec. Tacit. quod libet licet suspition icalousie suapte natura potentiae anxij yea euen of their owne infants suspectus semper inuisusque dominantibus quisquis proximus destinatur adeo vt displiceant etiam ciuilia filiorum ingenia whereby it falleth out that they are many times in alarum and feare ingenia regum prona ad formidinem The aduantages of Kings and soueraigne Princes aboue 7 The miseries and discommodities their people which seeme so great and glittering are indeed but light and almost imaginarie but they are repayed with great true and solid disaduantages and inconueniences The name and title of a soueraigne the shew and outside is beautifull pleasant and ambitious but the burthen and the inside is hard difficult and yrksome There
the mutinous people being strucken and blinded with the bright splendor of this authoritie are quieted attending what he will say vnto them Veluti magno in populo cùm saepe coorta Seditio est saeuit que animis ignobile vulgus Iamque faces sax a volant furor arma ministrat Tum pietate grauem ac meritis si fortè virum quem Conspexêre silent arrectisque auribus astant Ille regit dictis animos pectora mulcet There is nothing greater in this world than authoritie which is an image of God a messenger from Heauen if it be souereigne it it is called maiestie if subalterne authoritie and by two things it is maintained admiration and feare mingled together Now this maiestie and authoritie is first and properly in the person of the soueraigne prince and lawmaker where it is liuely actuall and mouing afterwards in his commandements and ordinances that is to say in the law which is the head of the worke of the prince and the image of a liuely and originall maiestie By this are fooles reduced conducted and guided Behold then of what weight necessitie and vtilitie authoritie and the law is in the world The next authoritie and that which is likest to the law is custome which is another powerfull and Emperious mistris 2 Of Custome It seaseth vpon this power and vsurpeth it traiterously and violently for it planteth this authoritie by little and little by stealth as it were insensibly by a little pleasing and humble beginning hauing setled and established it selfe by the helpe of time it discouereth afterwards a furious and tyrannicall visage against which there is no more libertie or power left so much as to lift vp ones eies It taketh it authoritie from the possession and vse thereof it increaseth and ennobleth it selfe by continuance like a riuer it is dangerous to bring it back to his originall fountaine Law custome establish their authoritie diuersly custome by little and little with long time sweetly and without force 3 A comparison of them both by the common consent of all or the greater part and the authour thereof are the people The law springeth vp in a moment with authoritie and power and taketh his force from him that hath power to command all yea many times against the liking of the subiects whereupon some compare it to a tyrant and custome to a king Againe custome hath with it neither reward nor punishment the law hath them both at least punishment neuerthelesse they may mutuallie help and hinder one another For custome which is but of sufferance authorized by the soueraigne is better confirmed and the law likewise setleth it owne authoritie by possession and vse and contrariwise custome may be caschiered by a contrarie law and the law loseth the force thereof by suffering a contrarie custome but ordinarily they are together that is law and custome wise and spirituall men considering it as a law idiots and simple men as a custome There is not a thing more strange than the diuersitie and strangenes of some lawes and customes in the world Neither 4 Their diuersitie and strangenesse is there any opinion or imagination so variable so mad which is not established by lawes and customes in some place or other I am content to recite some of them to shew those Of lawes and customes in the world that are hard of beleefe heerein how farre this proposition doth go Yet omitting to speake of those things that belong to religion which is the subiect where the greatest wonderments and grossest impostures are but because it is without the commerce of men and that it is not properly a custome and where it is easie to be deceiued I will not meddle with it See then a brief of those that for the strangenes are best worth the noting To account it an office of pietie in a certaine age to kill their parents to eate them In Innes to pay the shot by yeelding their children wiues and daughters to the pleasure of the hoste publike brothelhouses of males old men lending their wiues vnto yong women common an honor to women to haue accompaned with many men and to cary their locks in the hembes of their garments daughters to go with their priuie parts vncouered and maried women carefullie to keepe them couered to leaue the daughters to their pleasures and being great with child to enforce an obort in the sight and knowledge of all men but maried women to keepe themselues chaste and faithfull to their husbands women the first night before they companie with their husbands to receiue all the males of the estate and profession of their husbands inuited to the mariage and euer after to be faithfull to their husbands yong maried women to present their virginitie to their prince before they he with their husbands mariages of males women to go to warre with their husbands to die and to kill themselues at the decease of their husbands or shortly after to permit widowes to marie againe if their husbands die a violent death and not otherwise husbands to be diuorced from their wiues without alledging any cause to sell them if they be barren to kill them for no other cause but because they are women and afterwards to borrow women of others at their neede women to be deliuered without paine or feare to kill their children because they are not faire well featured or without cause at meate to wipe their fingers vpon their priuities and their feete to liue with mans flesh to eate flesh and fish raw many men and women to lie together to the number of tenne or twelue to salute one another by putting the finger to the ground and afterwards lifting it towards heauen to turne the back when they salute and neuer to looke him on the face whom a man will honor to take into the hand the spittle of the prince not to speake to the king but at a peepe-hole in a mans whole life neuer to cut his haire nor nailes to cut the haire on one side and the nailes of one hand and not of the other men to pisse sitting women standing to make holes and pits in the flesh of the face and the dugs to hang rings and iewels in to contemne death to receiue it with ioy to sue for it to pleade in publike for the honor thereof as for a dignitie and fauour to account it an honorable buriall to be eaten with dogs birds to be boyled cut in peeces and pounded and the powder to be cast into their ordinarie drinke When we come to iudge of these customes that is the complaint and the trouble the vulgar sot and pedante are 5 ExaminatioÌ„ and iudgement not troubled heâ—ewith for euery seditious rout condemneth as barbarous and beastly whatsoeuer pleaseth not their palat that is to say the common vse and custome of their countrie And if a man shall tell them that others do speake and iudge the same of ours
execution These reasons must be of no force yea abhorred That right consisteth in force That the issue or euent decideth it That the stronger carieth it away But a prince must looke into the cause into the ground and foundation and not into the issue Warre hath it lawes and ordinances as well as peace God fauoreth iust warres and giueth the victorie to whom it pleaseth him and therefore we must first make our selues capable of this fauor by the equitie of the enterprise Warre then must not be begun and vndertaken for all causes vpon euery occasion non ex omni occasione quaerere triumphum And aboue all a Plin. in Pan. prince must take heed that ambition auarice choler possesse him not and cary him beyond reason which are alwaies to say the truth the more ordinarie motiues to warre vna ea Salust vetus causa bellandi est profunda cupido imperij diuitiarum maximam gloriam in maximo imperio putant Repere foedus impius lucri furor ira praeceps That a warre may be in all points iust three things are necessarie 19 Three things make an enterprise iust that it be denounced and vndertaken by him that hath power to do it which is only the soueraigne That it be for a iust cause such as a defensiue war is which is absolute iust being iustified by all reason amongst the wise by necessitie amongst barbarians by nature amongst beasts Cic. pro Milo I say defensiue of himselfe that is of his life his libertie his parents his countrie of his allies and confederates in regard of that faith he hath giuen of such as are vniustlie oppressed Qui non defendit nec obsistit si potest iniuriae tam est in vitio quà m si parentes aut patriam aut socios deserat These three In officijs heads of defence are within the bounds of iustice according to S. Ambrose Fortitudo quae per bella tuetur à barbaris patria vel defendit infirmos vel à latronibus socios plena iustitiae est Another more briefly diuideth it into two heads faith health Nullum bellum à ciuitate optima suscipitur nisi aut pro fide aut pro salute and to offensiue warre he puts two conditions Salust That it proceede from some former offence giuen as outrage or vsurpation and hauing redemaunded openly by a herald that which hath beene surprised and taken away post clarigatum Plin. l. 22. nat hist ca. 2. and sought it by way of iustice which must euer goe formost For if men be willing to submit themselues vnto iustice and reason there let them stay themselues if not the last and therefore necessarie is iust and lawfull iustum bellum Liuius quibus necessarium pia arma quibus nulla nisi in armis relinquitur spes Thirdly to a good end that is to say peace and quietnes Sapientes pacis causa bellum gerunt laborem spe otij sustentant vt in pace sine iniuria viuant After iustice commeth prudence whereby a man doth aduisedly 22 Prudence deliberate before by sound of trumpet he publisheth the warre And therefore that nothing be done out of passion and ouer-rashly it is necessarie that he consider of the points of forces and meanes as well his owne as his enemies secondly of the hazard and dangerous reuolution of humane things especiallie of armes which are variable and wherein fortune hath greatest credit and exerciseth more hir empire than in any other thing wherein the issue may be such that in an houre it carieth all simul parta ac sperata decora vnius horae Liuius fortuna euertere potest Thirdly of those great euils infelicities and publike and particular miseries which warre doth necessarily bring with it and which be such as the only imagination is lamentable Fourthly of the calumnies maledictions and reproches that are spred abroad against the authours of the warre by reason of those euils and miseries that follow it For there is nothing more subiect to the toongs and iudgements of men than war But all lighteth vpon the Chieftaine iniquissima bellorum conditio Tacit. haec est prospera omnes sibi vendicant aduersa vni imputantur All these things together make the iustest warre that may be detestable saith S. Augustine and therefore it standeth a soueraigne vpon not to enter into warres but vpon great necessitie as it is said of Augustus and not to suffer himselfe to be caried by those incendiaries and fire-brands of warre who for some particular passion are readie to kindle and enflame him quibus in pace durius seruitium est in id nati vt nec Pindar ipsi quiescant neque alios sinant And these men are commonly such whose noses do bleed when they come to the fact it self Dulce bellum inexpertis A wise soueraigne will keepe himselfe in peace neither prouoking nor fearing warre neither disquieting either his owne state or anothers betwixt hope and feare nor comming to those extremities of perishing himselfe or making others to perish The second head of militarie action is to make war whereunto are required three things Munitions Men Rules of war 〈…〉 The first is prouision and munition of all things necessarie for warre which must be done in good time and at leasure for it were great indiscretion in extremities to be employed about the search and prouision of those things which he should haue alwaies readie Diu apparandum est vt vincas celeriùs Now of the ordinarie and perpetuall prouision required for the good of the prince and the state at all times hath beene spoken in the first part of this Chapter which is wholly of this subiect The principall prouisions and munitions of war are three Monie which is the vitall spirit and sinewes of war whereof hath been spoken in the second Chapter 2. Armes both offensiue and defensiue whereof likewise heeretofore These two are ordinarie and at all times 3. Victualls without which a man can neither conquer nor liue whole armies are ouerthrowne without a blow strucken souldiers grow licentious and vnrulie and it is not possible to doe any good Disciplinam non seruat ieiunus exercitus Cassiod But this is an extraordinarie prouision and not perpetuall and is not made but for warre It is necessarie therefore that in the deliberating of warre that there be great store-houses made for victuals corne poudered flesh both for the armie which is in the field and for the garisons in the frontiers which may be besieged The second thing required to make warre are men fit to assaile and to defend we must distinguish them The first distinction 24 Men. is into souldiers and leaders or captaines both are necessarie The souldiers are the bodie the captaines the soule the life of the armie who giue motion and action wee wil speake first of the souldiers who make the bodie in grosse There are diuers sorts
they faile and performe not their taske to saue themselues from the rigour of the punishment they haue recourse to base vnlawfull remedies lies false excuses teares of despite flights triuentings all worse than the fault they haue committed Dum id rescitum iri credit tantisper cauet Terent. Si sperat fore clam rursum ad ingenium redit Ille quem beneficio adiungas ex animo facit Studet par referre praesens absensque idem erit My will is that they be handled freely and liberally vsing therein reason and sweet and milde perswasions which ingender in their hearts the affections of honour and of shame The first will serue them as a spurre to what is good the second as a bridle to checke and withdraw them from euill There is something I know not what that is seruile and base in rigor and constraint the enemy to honour and true liberty We must clean contrary fat their hearts with ingenuity liberty loue vertue and honour Pudore liberalitate liberos retinere Terent. Satius esse credo quà m metu Hoc patrium est potius consuefacere filium Sua sponte recte facere quà m alieno metu Hoc pater ac dominus interest hoc qui nequit Fate atur se nescire imperare liberis Blowes are for beasts that vnderstand not reason iniuries and brawles are for slaues He that is once accustomed thereunto is mard for euer But reason the beautie of action the desire of honesty and honour the approbation of all men cheerefulnesse and comfort of heart and the detestation of their contraries as brutishnesse basenesse dishonour reproch and the improbation of all men these are the armes the spurs and the bridles of children well borne and such as a man would make honestmen This is that which a man should alwaies sound in their eares and if these means cannot preuaile all other of rigour and roughnesse shall neuer do good That which cannot be done with reason wisdome endeuour shall neuer be done by force and if happily it be done yet it is to small purpose But these other meanes cannot be vnprofitable if they be imploied in time before the goodnesse of nature be spent and spilt But yet for all this let no man thinke that I approoue that loose and flattering indulgence and sottish feare to giue children cause of discontent and sorrow which is another extremity as bad as the former This were like the Iuie to kill and make barren the tree which it embraceth or the ape that killeth hir yoong with culling them or like those that feare to hold him vp by the haire of the head that is in danger of drowning for feare of hurting him and so suffer him to perish Against this vice the wise Hebrew spake much Youth must be held in obedience and discipline not Eccles 30. bodily like beasts and madmen but spirituall humane liberall according to reason We come now to the particular and more expresse aduisements of this instruction The first head of them is as wee 13 Particular aduisements touching the minde haue said to exercise sharpen and forme the mind Whereupon there are diuers precepts but the first principall and fundamentall of all others which respecteth the end of instruction and which I most desire to inculcate because it is least embraced and followed and euery man runneth after the contrary which is a common and ordinarie errour is to haue much more and the chiefe and principall care to exercise to husband and manure to vse the proper good and much lesse to get and to endeuour the attainment of that which is strange to striue and study more for wisdome than for science and arte rather well to forme the iudgement and by consequence the will and the conscience than to fill the memorie and to inflame the imagination These are the three mistresse parts of a reasonable soule But the first is the iudgement as before hath beene discoursed to which place I resend the Reader Now the custome of the world is quite contrarie which runneth wholly after arte science and what L. 1. ca. 7. is acquired Parents to the end they may make their children wise are at great charge and their children take great paines Vt omnium rerum sic literarum intemperantiâ laboramus and Tacit. many times all is lost But to make them wise honest apt and dexterious which is a matter of small charge or labour they take no care at all What greater folly can there be in the world than more to admire science that which is acquired memorie than wisdome than nature Now all commit not this fault with one and the same minde some simplie caried by custome thinke that wisdome and science are not things different or at leastwise that they march alwaier together and that it is necessarie a man haue the one to attaine the other these kinde of men deserue to be taught others goe out of malice and they thinke they know well enough what they doe and at what price soeuer it be they will haue arte and science For this is a meane in these daies in the occidentall parts of Europe to get fame reputation riches These kinde of people make of science an arte and merchandise science mercenarie pedanticall base and mechanicall They buie science to sell it againe Let vs leaue these merchants as vncureable Contrariwise I cannot heere but blame the opinion and fashion of some of our gentlemen of Fraunce for in other nations this fault is not so apparent who haue knowledge or arte in such disdaine contempt that they do lesse esteeme of an honest man only for this because he hath studied they discarde it as a thing that seemeth in some sort to impeach their nobilitie Wherein they shew themselues what they are ill borne woorse aduised and truely ignorant of vertue and honour which they likewise bewray in their cariage their idlenesse their impertinencies their insufficiencie in their insolencies vanities and barbarities To teach others and to discouer the fault of all this we must make good two things The one that science and wisdome 14 A comparison of science and wisdome are things verie different and that wisdome is more woorth than all the science or arte of the world as heauen exceedes the price of the earth gold of iron the other that they are not onely different but that they seldome or neuer goe together that they commonly hinder one another he that hath much knowledge or arte is seldome wise and he that is wise hath not much knowledge Some exceptions there are heerein but they are verie rare and of great rich and happie spirits Some there haue beene in times past but in these daies there are no more to be found The better to performe this we must first know what science and wisdome is Science is a great heape or accumulation 15 The definition of science and wisdome and prouision of the good of another that
diuers things passe more strange more great And in this sense it was that wise Socrates called himselfe a citizen of the world And contrarily there is not any thing that doth more depraue and enthraule the minde of man than to make him taste and vnderstand but one certaine opinion beleefe and maner of life What greater follie or weakenesse can there be than to thinke that all the world walketh beleeueth speaketh doth liueth and dieth according to the maner of his countrey like those barde block-heads who when they heare one recite the maners and opinions of forraine countries very different and contrarie to theirs they tremble for feare and beleeue them not or else doe absurdly condemne them as barbarous so much are they enthralled and tied to their cradell a kinde of people brought vp as they say in a bottle that neuer saw any thing but through a hole Now this vniuersall spirit must be attained by the diligence of the master or teacher afterwards by trauell and communication with strangers and the reading of bookes and the histories of all nations Finally he must teach him to take nothing vpon credit and by authoritie this is to make himselfe a beast and to suffer himselfe to be ledde by the nose like an oxe but to examine all things with reason to propose all things and then to giue him leaue to chuse And if he know not how to chuse but doubt which perhaps is the better sounder and surer course to teach him likewise to resolue of nothing of himselfe but rather to distrust his owne iudgement After the minde comes the body whereof there must likewise be a care taken at one and the same instant with the spirit 32 An aduisement touching the body not making two works thereof Both of them make an entire man Now a master must endeuour to keepe his childe free from delicacie and pride in apparrell in sleeping eating drinking he must bring him vp hardly to labour and pains accustome him to heat and cold winde and weather yea and vnto hazards too harden his muscles and his sinewes as well as his minde to labour and then to paine and griefe too For the first disposeth to the second Labor callum obducit dolori To be briefe he must endeuour to make him lustie and vigorous indifferent to all kinde of viands All this serueth not onely for his health but for publike affaires and seruices We come now to the third head which concerneth maners wherein both body and soule haue a part This is twofold 33 3 An aduisement touching maners To hinder the euill to ingraft and to nourish the good The first is the more necessarie and therefore the greater care and heed must be taken It must therefore be done in time for there is no time too speedy to hinder the birth and growth of ill maners and conditions especially these following which are to be feared in youth To lie a base vice of seruants and slaues of a licentious and fearefull minde the cause whereof ariseth many times 1 Euill maners from bad and rude instruction A sottish shame and weaknesse whereby they seeke to hide themselues hold downe their heads blush at euerie question that is proposed cannot indure a correction or a sharpe word without a strange alteration of countenance Nature doth many times beare a great sway heerein but it must be corrected by studie All affectation and singularitie in habit cariage gate speech gesture and all other things this is a testimonie of vanitie and vaine-glory and marreth all the rest euen that which is good Licet sapere sine pompa sine inuidia But aboue all choler sullennesse obstinacie and therefore it is very necessarie that a childe neuer haue his will by such froward meanes and that he learne and finde that these qualities are altogether vnprofitable and bootlesse yea base and villanous and for this cause he must neuer be flattered for that marreth and corrupteth him teacheth him to be sullen and froward if he haue not his will and in the end maketh him insolent that a man shall neuer worke any good vpon him Nihil magis reddit iracundos quà m educatio mollis blanda By the selfesame meanes a man must ingraft into him 34 Good maners good and honest maners And first instruct him to feare and reuerence God to tremble vnder that infinite and inuisible maiestie to speake seldome and soberly of God of his power eternitie wisdome will and of his works not indifferently and vpon all occasions but fearefully with shame and reuerence Not to be ouer scrupulous in the mysteries and points of religion but to conforme himselfe to the gouernment and discipline of the church Secondly to replenish and cherish his heart with ingenuitie freedome candor integritie and to teach him to be an honest man out of an honorable and honest minde not seruilely and mechanically for feare or hope of any honour or profit or other consideration than vertue it selfe These two are especially for himselfe For another and the company with whom he conuerseth he must worke in him a sweet kinde of affabilitie to accommodate himselfe to all kinde of people to all fashions Omnis Aristippum decuit color status res Heerein Alcibiades was excellent That he learne how to be able and to know how to doe all things yea excesse and licentious behauiours if need be but that he loue to doe onely that which is good That he refraine to doe euill not for want of courage nor strength nor knowledge but will Multum interest virùm peccare quis nolit aut nesciat Modestly whereby he contesteth not nor tieth himselfe either to all as to the greatest and most respectiue persons or such as are his inferiors either in condition or sufficiencie nor See Lib. 2. cap. 9. defendeth any thing obstinately with affirmatiue resolute commanding words but sweet submisse and moderate specches Hereof hath beene spoken else-where And thus the three heads of the duties of parents towards their children are dispatched The fourth concerneth their affection and communication with them when they are great and capable of that wherunto 36 The fourth part touching the dutie of parents they were instructed We know that affection is reciprocall and naturall betwixt parents and their children but that of parents towards their children is farre more strong and more naturall because it is giuen by nature to loue those things that are comming on to the maintenance and continuance The loue of parēts greater than the loue of children of the world especiallie those in whom a man doth liue when he is dead That of children towards their parents is retrograde and therefore it goeth not so stronglie nor so naturallie and it seemeth rather to be the paiment of a debt and a thankfull acknowledgement of a benefit receiued than a pure free simple and naturall loue Moreouer he that giueth and doth good loueth more than he that receiueth and is
indebted And therefore a father and euery agent that doth good to another loueth more than he is beloued The reasons of this proposition are many All loue to be which being is exercised and demonstrated in motion and action Now he that giueth and doth good to another is after a sort in him that receiueth He that giueth and doth good to another doth that which is honest and honorable he that receiueth doth none of this honestie is for the first profit for the second Now honestie is farre more worthie firme stable amiable than profit which in a moment vanisheth Againe those things are most beloued that cost vs most that is dearest vnto vs which we come more dearely by Now to beget to nourish to bring vp is a matter of greater charge than to receiue all these This loue of parents is two-fold though alwaies naturall yet after a diuers maner the one is simplie and vniuersallie 37 The loue of parents twofold naturall and as a simple instinct which is common with beasts according to which parents loue and cherish their children though deformed stammering halting milke-sops and vse them like moppets or little apes This loue is not truly humane Man indued with reason must not seruilelie subiect himselfe vnto nature as beasts do but follow it more noblie with discourse of reason The other then is more humane and reasonable whereby a man loueth his children more or lesse according to that measure wherein he seeth the seeds and sparks of vertue goodnes and towardlinesse to arise and spring vp in them Some there are who being besotted and caried with the former kind of affection haue but little of this and neuer complaining of the charge so long as their children are but small complaine thereof when they come to their growth begin to profit It seemeth that they are in a sort offended and vexed to see them to grow and set forward in honest courses that they may become honest men These parents are brutish and inhumane Now according to this second true and fatherlie loue in 38 Of the true fatherly loue in communicating with his children being come to yeares of discretion the well gouerning thereof parents should receiue their children if they be capable into their societie and partnership in their goods admit them to their counsell intelligence the knowledge and course of their domesticall affaires as also to the communication of their designements opinions and thoughts yea consent and contribute to their honest recreations and pastimes as the case shall require alwaies reseruing their ranke and authoritie For wee condemne the austere lordlike and imperious countenance and cariage of those that neuer looke vpon their children nor speake vnto them but with authoritie will not be called fathers but lords though God himselfe refuse not this name of father neuer caring for the hartie loue of their children so they may be feared reuerenced and adored And for this cause they giue vnto them sparinglie keepe them in want that they may the better keepe them in awe and obedience euer threatning them some small pittance by their last will when they depart out of this life Now this is a sottish vaine and ridiculous foolerie It is to distrust their owne proper true and naturall authoritie to get an artificiall And it is the way to deceiue themselues and to grow into contempt which is cleane contrarie to that they pretend It causeth their children to carie themselues cunninglie with them and to conspire and find meanes how to deceiue them For parents should in good time frame their minds to dutie by reason and not haue recourse to these meanes more tyrannous than fatherlie Errat longè mea quidem sententia Qui imperium credit esse grauius aut stabilius Vi quod sit quà m illud quod amicitia adiungitur In the last disposition of our goods the best and surest way is to follow the lawes customes of the countrie The lawes 39 The vsage of them in their last willes according to the lawes haue better prouided for it than we and it is a safer course to suffer them to faile in some thing than to aduenture vpon our owne defects in our owne proper choice It is to abuse that libertie we haue therein to serue our foolish fantasies and priuat passions like those that suffer themselues to be caried by the vnwonted officious actions and flatteries of those that are present who make vse of their last willes and testaments either by gratifying or chastising the actions of those that pretend interest therein A man must conforme himselfe to reason and common custome heerin which is wiser than we are and the surer way We come now to the dutie of children towards their parents 40 Of the dutie of children towards their parēts so naturall and so religious and which ought to be done vnto them not as vnto pure and simple men but demi-gods earthlie mortall visible gods And this is the reason why Philo the Iew said that the commandement touching the dutie of children was written the one halfe in the first table which conteined the commandements that concerne our dutie towards God and the other halfe in the second table wherein are the commandements that concerne our neighbour as being halfe diuine and halfe humane This dutie likewise is so certaine so due and requisite that it may not be dispensed withall by any other dutie or loue whatsoeuer be it neuer so great For if it shall happen that a man see his father and his sonne so indangered at one and the same instant as that he cannot rescue and succour them both he must forsake his sonne and goe to his father though his loue towards his sonne be greater as before hath beene said And the reason is because the dutie of a sonne towards his father is more ancient and hath the greater priuiledge and cannot be abrogated by any later dutie 41 This dutie consisteth in fiue points Now this dutie consisteth in fiue points comprehended in this word Honour thy father and thy mother The first is reuerence not only in outward gesture and countenance but also inward which is that high and holy opinion and esteeme that a childe ought to haue of his parents as the authors and originall causes of his being and of his good a qualitie that makes them resemble God himselfe The second is obedience euen to the roughest and hardest 2 Ier. 35. commands of a father according to the example of the Rechabites who to obey the command of their father neuer dranke wine in all their liues Nay more than that Isaac refused not to yeeld his necke to the sword of his father The third is to succour their parents in all their needs and necessities to nourish them in their old age their impotency and want to giue them their assistance in all their affaires We haue an example and paterne heereof euen in beasts In the Storke whose little ones as
S. Basil affirmeth feed and nourish In examer their old dames couer them with their feathers when they fall from them and couple themselues together to carrie them vpon their backs Loue furnisheth them with this arte This example is so liuely and so significant that the dutie of children towards their parents hath beene signified by the qualitie of this creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reciconiare And the Hebrewes call this bird for this cause chasida that is to saie Leuit. 11. the debonaire the charitable bird We haue likewise notable examples heere amongst men Cymon the sonne of great Miltiades whose father dying in prison as some say for debt and not hauing wherewithall to burie his bodie much lesse to redeeme it being arested for the debt whilest it was caried to the buriall according to the lawes of that country Cymon sold himselfe and his libertie for money to prouide for his funerall He with his plentie and goods relieued not his father but with his libertie which is deerer than all goods yea and life too He helped not his father liuing and in necessitie but dead and being no more a father nor a man What had he done to succour his father liuing wanting and requiring his helpe This is an excellent president We haue two the like examples euen in the weake and feeble sex of women of two daughters which haue nourished and giuen sucke the one to the father the other to hir mother being prisoners and condemned to die by famine the ordinarie punishment of the ancients It seemeth in some sort a thing against nature that the mother should be nourished with the daughters milke but this is truely according to nature yea those first lawes that the daughter should nourish her mother The fourth is not to doe to attempt or enterprise any thing of weight or importance without the aduice consent and approbation of parents and especially in mariage The fift is mildly and gently to endure the vices imperfections and testie and impatient humors of parents their seueritie and rigour Manlius hath made good proofe heereof for the Tribune Pomponius hauing accused the father of this Manlius in the presence of the people of many crimes and amongst others that he ouer cruelly handled his sonne enforcing him to till the earth the sonne goeth to the Tribune and finding him in his bedde putting the point of his dagger to his throat inforced him to sweare that he should desist from that pursuit he made against his father desiring rather to indure his fathers rigour than to see him troubled for it A childe shall finde no difficultie in these fiue duties if he consider how chargeable he hath been to his parents and with what care and affection he hath beene brought vp But he shall neuer know it well vntill he haue children of his owne as hee that was found to ride vpon a hobbie-horse playing with his children entreated him that so tooke him to hold his peace vntill he were himselfe a father reputing him till then no indifferent iudge in this action CHAP. XV. The dutie of Masters and seruants HEere commeth the third and last part of priuate and domesticall iustice which is the duties of masters and seruants Touching which it is necessarie to know the distinction of seruants for they are principally three sorts That is to say of slaues whereof all the world hath beene full in former time and is at this present except a part of Europe and no place more free than heere about France they haue no power neither in their bodies nor goods but are wholly their masters who may giue lend sell resell exchange and vse them as beasts of seruice Of these hath beene spoken of at large There are inferiour seruants and seruants free people masters of their persons and goods yea they cannot bargaine or otherwise doe any thing to the preiudice of their owne libertie But they owe honour obedience and serue vntill such times and vpon such conditions as they haue promised and their masters haue power to command correct and chastise them with moderation and discretion There are also mercenaries which are lesse subiect they owe no seruice nor obedience but onely worke and labour for money and they haue no authoritie in commanding or correcting them The duties of masters towards their seruants as well of slaues as inferior seruants are not to handle them cruellie remembring they are men and of the same nature with vs but onely fortune hath put a difference which is euer variable and sporteth it selfe in making great men little and little great And therefore the difference is not so great so much to contemne them Sunt homines contubernales humiles Senec. amici conserui aequè fortunae subiecti To handle seruants gently seeking rather to be beloued than feared is the testimonie of a good nature to vse them roughly and too seuerely proceedeth from a crabbed and cruell minde and that he beareth the same disposition towards all other men but want of power hindereth the execution thereof They ought to instruct them with godly and religious counsell and those things that are requisite for their health and safety The duties of seruants are to honour and feare their masters whatsoeuer they be and to yeeld them obedience and fidelitie seruing them not for gaine or onely outwardly and for countenance but heartily seriously for conscience sake and without dissimulation We read of most worthie noble and generous seruices performed in former times by some towards their masters euen to the engaging and hazard of their liues for their masters safegard and honour CHAP. XVI The dutie of Soueraignes and Subiects OF Princes and Soueraignes their descriptions notes humours markes and discommodities hath beene discoursed in the first booke chap. 49. Their dutie to gouerne the common-wealth hath beene spoken at large in this present booke chap. 2. and 3. which is of politike prudence yet we will touch a little heere the heads and generall points of their dutie The Soueraigne as the meane betweene God and the people 1 The dutie of Soueraignes and debtour to these two ought alwaies remember that he is the liuely image the officer and lieutenant generall of the great God his soueraigne and to the people a perfect mirrour a bright beame a cleere looking glasse an eleuated theater for euerie one to behold a fountaine where all refresh themselues a spurre to vertue and who doth not any good that is not famous and put in the register of perpetuall memorie He ought then first of all to feare and honour God to To be religious be deuout religious to obserue pietie not onely for himselfe and for conscience sake as euery other man but for his state and as he is a soueraigne The pietie which we heere require in a prince is the care he ought to haue and to shew for the conseruation of religion and the ancient lawes and ceremonies of the countrey prouiding by lawes